Unheard, Unseen
by Sayloni
Summary: Jason believed another run in with the God of Love couldn't make matters any worse; after all, Percy and Annabeth were safely out of Tartarus, the Argo II was on its way to Athens, and Nico was gone. "He must not be disappointed this time," Cupid had said. "The poor boy has endured much in the name of Love, after all." Bringing ends together was the only way ... eventual Percico


Author's Note:

Greetings, everyone.

Remember how Sayloni said her current obsession was the 'Heroes of Olympus' series by Rick Riordan? (o_O!)/ No? Well, she always had doubts that anybody read the damn things on her profile... FFnet, why do we have profiles anyway?

Never mind that.

Ah, well, she doesn't have much to say right now. Kind of weird, that is, because Sayloni always has something to babble about... Like, the 'Heroes of Olympus'.

Honestly, the books have always occupied the top position in her favourites list, Nico and Leo being the ones standing on the tiny needle-like point on that top position, which is sort of really depressing since they are probably the characters who suffered the most; had no home and no family, ran away almost every other day and were doomed when it came to 'happily-ever-afters'... (o_O!) My, my, Mr. Riordan sure manages to mess his own characters up a lot.

That said, Sayloni is even more messed up to be attracted to said characters. Has she ever mentioned that the characters she likes always end up in the dumps one way or the other?

Woe and all that. Because happy and fulfilled characters are just not interesting enough now, are they? Even Coach Hedge, the most ridiculous character Sayloni can think of, has Mellie and his unborn child to think about! Hmm, Sayloni would sure like to see that kid.

Anyway, that's not the point here. What Sayloni wants to direct your attention to is the story that the readers are going to read. Of course, it's Percy x Nico, although it's going to be very hard to pull it off since the son of Poseidon seems head over heels in love with Annabeth. But what can she say? Sayloni likes challenges too much to not have a take at it. And she loves Nico infinitely more to leave him with nothing to feel glad over.

Sayloni was really thrilled by 'House of Hades' and she expects greater thing from 'Blood of Olympus', but she figured she could have some fun in-between that. The characters Mr. Riordan has created are just to fun to leave alone. The following work, is therefore, a result of all those twisted feelings.

Also, she would like to dedicate this to Miss Fickle Hippo, who has been a dear friend to her for some time now, and Itty Bitty Albatross for inspiring her to publish her work. You should probably check out their stories too.

Please enjoy.

Warning :

This fic contains boy x boy, not explicit, but she won't advice people with no taste in this genre, or those who have probably never heard about it to go on reading. And, oh! Characters might appear a tad bit OOC, but she'll definitely try to work on them.

Disclaimer :

Sayloni is no Rick Riordan, that is to politely say she doesn't own the 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' and the 'Heroes of Olympus' series. Also, these characters are His Highness's property exclusively.

So with that obligation out of the way, kindly read on!

* * *

**Percy**

**The Blood of a Lovely Lady**

Puking his guts out after narrowly surviving an aerial attack was not how Percy wanted to spend the night with his girlfriend.

As it was, the Argo II lurched with the impact, of what he didn't know yet, and Percy, half-asleep, fell out of his bed in a tangle of limbs. He sat up, feeling disoriented. Sleep was apparently a luxury to any of them.

It had been only a day since Reyna had left with the Athena Parthenos, something that Percy found he was too grateful about, and he really wanted to believe that the stupid 'Mother Earth' would leave them in peace for a few more hours. That was all a Demigod would hope for. Gaea, apparently, had never heard of the phrase 'take it slow'. That or Leo was going paranoid of the tranquillity already.

The ship's alarms went off, effectively breaking him out of his daze. Within seconds, Percy was out of the room, Riptide drawn in one hand.

Battle cries rung in the crisp, night air and the sound of something exploding made Percy hesitate for a second. There were noises of swords clashing above deck. Someone cursed the race of Gryphons to the darkest pits of Tartarus. Percy held back a shiver and sprang into action.

The ship rocked to and fro as if they were caught in a storm. That might very well have been the case if Leo, as much as the guy was understanding and generally pleasant to be around, hadn't argued that taking to air would make it faster for them to reach Athens. Percy didn't understand why they were rushing to their deaths in such a hurry. There were thirteen more days till the Feast of Spes, but of course, Annabeth being Annabeth, had insisted that the best course of action was to reach their destination as soon as possible. She'd been downright adamant about it.

Percy's initial reactions to the attack therefore had been to search for his girlfriend.

He staggered towards her room, jumping over rolling cans and broken crockery. By experience, he knew that Annabeth wasn't a girl he needed to protect like some Damsel in distress, but he'd seen her in and out of Tartarus, and frankly, right now, he just didn't feel like having something as trivial as a Gryphon cause either of their demises. Besides, Annabeth no longer had her trusted, wicked dagger.

He was two rooms short of Annabeth's when a frizzy brown head came into his sight. Percy almost tripped on a cola can.

Hazel stood stiff in front of her own door in her peach-print pyjamas and bronze breastplate, peering inside. Her _Sparta_ was poised above her head. She jerked back at the sound of his approaching footsteps, ready to swing, but held back when Percy emerged out of the hallway.

"Percy!" She rushed out, relieved.

Percy ran to her side, frantic. "Where's Annabeth?" He asked, not caring how insensitive he sounded to the girl who was in as much dilemma as he or Annabeth.

"She's holding the rest back with the others on deck," Hazel answered.

Percy was jolted. "There are more?"

"There's an entire fleet of them. This one got inside," she said and motioned for him to come closer, moving aside. When Percy laid eyes on what she had been staring at earlier, he was a little stunned. Golden eyes, now lifeless, stared right back at him. It was smaller in comparison to some Percy had come across and was already dissolving into golden dust, but it was a Gryphon alright. He turned to regard Hazel with a quizzical look. "I got him," She grinned in response.

Her eyes were twinkling, if not a little drowsy. Her hair was in disarray. One of her socks was missing, and she'd a busted toenail. Still, for some reason, Percy felt proud of her. Hazel was quite like the sister he would want if allowed one. She'd grown even more during his absence. She deserved at least a little of his concern.

He had the sudden urge to apologize for his disregard earlier.

"How?" He asked instead.

Hazel shrugged, and every curl atop her head bounced with the nearly insignificant movement. "A little Mist is all it took, really."

Percy could have asked her to explain what she meant, but another heavy explosion reminded him that they were in the middle of a crisis. The thought made him sprint for the hallway through which he'd come storming inside. Hazel easily fell in step with him, being the proper Roman that she was.

"Not the mast!" Leo's distressed voice came floating down.

When they reached above deck, the full implication of Hazel's words hit him squarely. Gryphons, nasty creatures with mismatched parts of equally nasty animals; there were at least a dozen of them, shrieking wildly and making Percy's head hurt all together.

He looked around wildly. Sure enough, the mast was destroyed, and in its ruins laid a dazed looking Frank. Leo crouched beside him lamenting over his wrecked 'baby'. He was smoking.

"Backs to each other!" Annabeth cried from somewhere.

Percy was quick to run in the direction of her voice. Then he saw them, the rest of his team on the Argo II, standing their ground among the swarming creatures. They were positioned in a human-triangle, with their faces away from each other, protecting the others' back. Annabeth's grey eyes were untamed. She was in a mismatched attire of armour and pyjamas. They were hopelessly outnumbered, with Piper barely managing to protect herself with her dagger and, and Jason making a good show of swinging his _Gladius_. Random bouts of broccoli shot from Achelous' horn.

And the two were supposed to be on watch that night!

Without another thought, Percy leapt over the remains of the mast to reach his girlfriend. A shrieking Gryphon lunged for him, but Hazel was quick to slash at it. Her _Sparta_ went clean through the creature, slicing it until only gold dust remained, and Percy could imagine how she must have got the other one.

It seemed he really had missed much while on his vacation in Tartarus.

He dodged another one, almost laying flat on his stomach and rolling over in quick succession. He could start fighting them, but that would delay him from reaching Annabeth's side.

"Go help Frank!" He told Hazel, who lost no time in parting ways with him.

If Percy had expected his girlfriend to be relieved when she saw him, he was definitely disappointed. She didn't even look at him. Annabeth was still a little pale, and her hair stuck out in odd places. Even in crumpled pyjamas and a mismatched pair of slippers, she was beautiful to the eye. If it wasn't for the situation right now, Percy would have stood there and stared at her all night.

He didn't have time though. His friends needed him.

He swung his Riptide to finish off a Gryphon who'd lunged in Annabeth's direction, but she barely registered the fact. For a second, Percy was afraid she'd lost her mind. He figured going to Tartarus did that to people; Nico had seemed a bit creepier than usual. Now that the danger was so obvious, it was only natural for Annabeth, who'd gone against a giant spider with a broken leg all on her own before being sucked into the depths of Underworld and survived the hellish experience on fiery water, to crumble under the stress. It was inconvenient, but that couldn't be helped.

It was Jason who addressed him. "Pleased you could play into the party, partner," he muttered, obviously in a crabby mood, but never took his eyes off of the shrieking flock in front of him. Percy wondered if he was trying at – what had Annabeth called it? – alliteration.

He chose to ignore the other's sarcasm. "I thought Gryphons were supposed to be protectors of ancient treasures and all! Does anybody here have a secret stash of gold?"He yelled instead.

This seemed to snap Annabeth out of her stupor, and she whirled her head around to look at him. Instantly, the dazed look on her face melted away. "They must have followed Reyna to the Argo II," she replied, shaking her head. "Apparently, Gryphons aren't even Greek and the Romans just used them for decoration! It was a Middle Eastern myth that travelled through nomads of the Gobi Desert."

"Yeah, okay," Piper replied, fending off a well aimed scratch with her Katoptris. She had got better at combat. "But that's not going to help us fight them now, is it? Where are dead legionnaires when you need them?"

Percy didn't understand what she meant, but he raised his Riptide nonetheless. "I could certainly do with Coach Hedge's baseball bat," He commented dryly and swung.

Fighting off the remaining nine Gryphons turned out to be harder than he'd imagined. Jason, the Superman-to-the-rescue that he was, took on two of them on his own, and electrocuted a third one. Piper charm-spoke a Gryphon to attack its own friends, while Annabeth kept on slipping in and out of her dream-like state, lost in thought. That left Percy to fend for the both of them, and he swayed his Riptide like a madman, sending various Gryphons into frenzy and a whiff of gold dust.

He could hear Leo cursing the creatures, and a ball or two of fire flew past their heads. Hazel, strangely, by the brief glance Percy managed to shoot her way, seemed to be having a staring contest with another Gryphon. He didn't know how, but whatever she was doing was working. The creature looked like it didn't understand what the heck was happening around it. Frank, who'd have been an invaluable fighter at the moment, was passed out in the Mast – or whatever remained of it – with a puddle around his head that seemed suspiciously red. Percy didn't remember Dakota ever giving the big guy a pack of his Cool-Aid. The thought made his bones feel like jell-O. It was blaringly obvious just how much of a disadvantage they were at.

Suddenly, Percy's respect for the Praetor of Camp Jupiter increased twelvefold. If Reyna had really taken on such a horrifying bunch single-handedly and still managed to reach the Argo II in one piece, then the Athena Parthenos and Nico were definitely in good hands. That said, he would have been happier if the son of Hades were here with his wicked Stygian iron.

He briefly wondered if Nico was passed out somewhere with Reyna and Coach Hedge trying their hardest to hold back an enemy onslaught of the same magnitude that the Argo II was facing. The thought scared him a little.

_Stop it, Jackson_, he chided himself. If he started having conflicted thoughts at the same time, there was no saying when he'd go insane and cause all of their deaths.

Complications arose when a Gryphon swooped down and managed to swipe Jason off of his feet. Percy had never seen someone dodge with such agility, and he briefly wondered if he himself had ever inspired such awe from a fellow Demigod about his skills. He probably had. From what he'd heard, Jason probably went around doing it on an every-day basis. The guy stumbled, managing to stop his fall with a gracefully placed palm against the floorboards of the Argo II, but the damage was already done.

"Jason!" Piper screamed as the Gryphon's talons encircled around both of her. Her instant-food horn clattered onto the hull as she was flown away. She seemed so panicked that even her charm-speaking wasn't working.

Immediately, Jason was on his feet and dashing after the creature. Some athlete the guy was. Percy found his respect trampled on by his own pride. Jason seemed to be losing the competition until a fireball hit the Gryphon squarely on its right wing, toasting its side, courtesy Leo, who seemed to have a personal vendetta against the lot of them by now. Percy had to agree; a flaming Valdez with a broken ship was a scary Valdez.

"You lay a hand on my ship, I take offence," Percy heard him yell. "But you lay a hand on Beauty Queen, you're a marshmallow over a Campfire, buddy!"

Percy was touched by their concern for each other, but really, the son of Jupiter could have thought twice about leaving their side. It wasn't that he didn't care about Piper being taken, but still. Now it was just the two of them, him and a half-conscious Annabeth, circled by half a dozen Gryphons who shrieked like Frank's Grandmother in a fit. They had each other to watch their backs, sure, but it was hardly anything when Annabeth kept staring off into space.

"Snap out of it, Annabeth!" He yelled, hoping his voice would bring her to her senses again, but she seemed lost in another World, as if hearing Sirens.

The particular memory made Percy shiver, and a Gryphon took it as its cue to strike down. It would have been an easy save, if that was the only one who'd lunged for him. As it was, at least three distinct angry shrieks pierced his ears, and though he swivelled to the side to dodge the lot of them, if it hadn't been for the shove that pushed him out of the way forcefully, Percy would have been reduced to Gryphon chowder.

His save was ridiculous in comparison to the son of Jupiter. He blamed it on his weak state. Percy barely managed to keep himself from face-planting, falling flat on his stomach, which was far from Grace's – well, grace, and he pointedly waved it off as another side-effect of his free vacation to the Underworld.

A drop of blood caught his attention. The half-hearted examination of his face concluded that Percy had busted his lower lip, and the red liquid was dribbling down his chin in droplets. He spit it out. It had a tangy taste.

Then more blood fell, and this was definitely not an amount that a simple busted lip could conjure. Except for the sting in his lip, his body didn't feel like it had been wounded anywhere else. Instantly, Percy jumped to his feet, staring ahead in horror at Annabeth, who stood staring at the puddle by her feet in morbid fascination. Fresh, red liquid ran down the side of her body. Her left arm, now torn at her bicep, was oozing disgusting amounts of blood.

Watching her, Percy felt the first spasms of vomiting. He doubled over. His Riptide clattered to the floor beside his forearm. If it wasn't for his pride, he would have been emptying what little stuff his stomach contained from the last meal he'd had in the afternoon.

"Percy!" Annabeth suddenly sounded alarmed, as if she'd just now realized that the blood on the floorboards belonged to her. She took a step back, then stumbled. "Percy. Percy!"

Percy wanted to hold her hand; he wanted to draw her closer and assure her they'll be fine, just as he'd done over and over the past few days, but his body didn't listen to him. Gryphons swarmed angrily about them, but he could hardly move without wrenching, and he feared any moment now he'd be passing out. He didn't want to. That would probably be the end of them both.

"Move, Annabeth. You have to move," he gasped out, trying to crawl towards her. "Stand up, get to your feet, please. Go down the deck. Move!"

"Percy!" was all Annabeth replied.

If it wasn't for Leo, Percy was sure he would have started to list out the things he didn't get to do this life, and probably cry his girlfriend a river while he was at it so that they could both drown together in it. Not that he would actually drown, but it was still an idea. Hardly a very romantic way to go, Percy thought, but he was no Shakespeare to tackle the idea of their deaths Romeo-Juliet style.

Leo had never seemed cooler before. The Latino blasted the two Gryphons that were aiming for them with such feral strength that even Percy was troubled by it for a second. One disintegrated into dust instantly, while the other went spiralling out of its orbit and, if they were lucky, wouldn't be making an appearance anytime soon.

"Leo!" Percy let out a breath, trying to get to his feet, but his stomach convulsed with the very effort. His Riptide, which now lay in a pool of Annabeth's blood, made it worse.

They hadn't finished though. The third, and probably the last of the Gryphons, lunged towards the slack-jawed Annabeth. Leo, in her defence and to Percy's somewhat bewilderment, brought out a wrench from his tool belt and threw it in the creature's direction. It hit the Gryphon between its eyes, and a loud shriek of indignation echoed around the Argo II.

Just as it was swooping down to chew Leo's head off, the self-assured voice of Piper cut through the night air. "Stop!" She shouted from somewhere to Percy's left, and it made almost everything aboard the Argo II stop dead in their tracks.

"Stop," Leo and Annabeth murmured, getting dreamy-eyed. Percy himself gave up trying to reach for his girlfriend for a few moments. The Gryphon floated mere inches above them.

Then Piper was running towards the three of them, with Jason in tow.

"Blast it, Leo!" He could make out the son of Jupiter's clear voice in the background. Apparently, Leo was so dazed by the Charm-speak that he didn't hear the guy at all. Percy didn't understand how Jason was still able to move when they were all rendered immobile. "It's coming to its senses! Leo!"

Percy couldn't really comprehend what was going on around him anymore. Sweat beaded on his forehead. His stomach was twisting into knots, and his head felt light and fluffy. There was a bitter taste in his mouth. He heard Piper shouting something about seagulls, and then there was a flapping noise. Percy didn't know what could have made that flapping noise. He stood shakily, and without a thought, took a step in his girlfriend's direction.

Leo rushed to his aid, catching him before he could take the Argo II in the face. Piper must have done something to snap them all back to reality, because the guy seemed a lot more un-dreamy compared to before. The Latino threw one of Percy's arms over his own shoulders. "Easy there, Captain," he said, supporting Percy as they staggered towards where Annabeth was sitting, blinking her eyes rapidly. Leo's mind seemed to register just what they were standing on, and he yelped, almost dragging the son of Poseidon with him.

"Annabeth," Percy muttered, trying to keep from doubling over, and reached the bewildered girl. That was a look Annabeth had never had on her face. He figured he must seem so pathetic to the rest of the team. "It's over, Annabeth. We're okay."

"They need Ambrosia," Piper was saying, the urgency ringing in her melodic voice.

Somewhere far-off, Hazel yelled something about bandages and gauze to stop blood that was flowing out of wherever. Leo disappeared from his bleary-eyed vision.

Percy didn't care about the rest. His clothes were bloody, and he was probably going to hurl any second now. But he had Annabeth propped up against his side, leaning into his shoulder as she looked around as if coming out of a trance. Their hands were linked. He watched her regard her wound and turn a cute shade of purple. Then she gazed at him, concerned and at war with herself, touching his arm.

"Percy, you're green. Are you alright?" She asked.

Percy would have answered that as long as they were together, he was going to be fine even if Ella, the Harpy decided to do 'The Macarena' on him, and he even parted his lips to offer her a smile, but then the contents of his stomach came spilling out of his mouth.

* * *

**Percy**

**Gryphons lay Agates**

Ten minutes out of their possible demise, and Annabeth was back in action.

The way she suddenly took command after the Gryphon attack would have fooled anyone into thinking that the wound on her arm was a prop for some third class theatrical play.

She inhaled copious amounts of Ambrosia that Percy feared might burn her, and set about to drilling each able-bodied party on the Argo II to specific tasks. She became so engrossed with it that she didn't pay much attention to either his or her own injuries.

Percy thought she was keeping busy more for her own sanity than anything else.

Leo eased the ship into the nearest water body and got to fixing it. Their pit stop was some sort of salt-water lake that thankfully hadn't endured much pollution, getting its water from the sea, with a warehouse kind of thing at its shore. Sea water aside, Percy didn't really like it, but he figured it'd make a good hide-out until repairs. Through some convincing on Piper's part about how they were just an ethnically diverse group of teenager-traders taking shelter until a non-existent storm in the far off ocean had settled down, though not without some eye-rolling and 'Ye foreigners' by the authorities, they were allowed into the harbour.

Hazel was instructed to aid Leo in any way possible. But that was only up until Annabeth herself had recovered enough to help with the repairs. Unfortunately for Percy, that took a little over half a day with her daughter-of-Athena willpower and she was pushing herself to the ship's blueprints in no time at all.

Piper, who hadn't undergone much tumult except for a few scratches and a sprain that she contracted when the Gryphon had dropped her, was assigned the work to look after the sick. Her injury was assisted by a makeshift stint that Leo had crafted, but she still limped a little around it. Other than her rounds to his and Frank's rooms, she didn't move much.

In short, Percy, who'd taken to vomiting out everything that was fed to him, was stuck with her until he could keep it in his stomach.

Frank was the one who'd suffered the worst. Even with his somewhat changed appearance, he was still Frank after all. Leo had muttered something about how he'd turned into a fire-breathing dragon and tried to bring down a Gryphon, but had accidentally crashed against the mast instead and knocked himself out. The big guy had apparently got a minor concussion, nothing a little rest couldn't make better Annabeth had assured a frantic Percy and a worried Hazel, but the son of Poseidon still felt bad for him. Percy believed that if he had just been there a bit earlier, all this disaster could have been avoided.

That just made his stomach upset all over again.

Piper rubbed circles into his back as he emptied what little he'd consumed an hour ago, on Annabeth's insistence of course. He'd much rather have his girlfriend than Grace's by his side, but he couldn't afford to be picky today.

"You are going to be fine, Percy. It's okay," She cooed soothingly, and Percy knew she was charm-speaking him when he suddenly felt better.

The thing was, out of everyone on the Argo II, he should have been the one to take the lead. Except for a few dozen scratches and a busted lip, he'd mostly made it out alright in comparison to the other members of his team. Even Jason, the Lightning Rod had suffered from a conked out wrist which they'd haphazardly set right. And yet, here he was, staring into the toilet, with an Aphrodite girl charm-speaking him back to health. It was worse, because he had almost killed Annabeth due to his own uselessness. Yeah, some Hero he was.

Percy feared that if he took the pain to search out the definition of the word 'pathetic' in a dictionary, it'd have a full page photo of his stupid face.

Once he was done, Piper led him back into his room. He collapsed on the bed without a moment's thought. She offered him a glass of water and he gulped it down in spontaneous bouts, then spilled the rest on his head. It didn't help much. The water was clean drinking water; what he needed was pure, unadulterated sea water.

He looked to Piper. "Can we go above deck, please? It's stuffy here."

She appeared doubtful at first, biting her lower lip and a worried expression creeped into her kaleidoscope eyes. Percy could see why Grace seemed so smitten with her. She looked like a Fairy God Mother version of Drew back from the Aphrodite cabin.

"Okay," she nodded finally.

They walked – in reality; Percy staggered with a hand clutching at his abdomen and Piper limped – to the deck of the Argo II. Part of the reason why he'd wanted to come out here was to see Annabeth, but that plan was laid to waste at once. Hazel stood atop the hull and made metal sheets float like some kind of voodoo magician. Leo grumbled about, looking at least one-eighth emo, almost as if Octavian had gutted out his favourite teddy bear. Annabeth, however, was nowhere to be seen. A rising sense of panic attacked Percy, and he resisted the urge to keel over. The barely there traces of blood on the floorboards weren't helping matters much.

He reached out a hand and steadied himself over the incomplete mast, eliciting a muttered "Not the mast, dude" from a certain son of Hephaestus. Percy frowned. He had to stop being unreasonable. He wasn't doing anyone any good with that kind of thought process.

Piper was looking at him curiously. He managed a smile her way to assure her of his health. From the way she regarded him, you'd think the girl had morphed into a medic overnight or something.

"I'm fine," he said, climbing over the starboard rail as if peering into the depths below, almost hypnotized. "Just... I need water. A lot of it, actually." Piper gave him a quizzical look at that, but he pushed it aside. Eyes shut; Percy dived into the lake without any warning.

The squeak that Piper made as he hit the surface was drowned out by the splash of the water. He should apologize to her when he got out; otherwise Annabeth was going to be very mad at him for ditching his nurse. It was still refreshing. Instantly, Percy felt better. Although it was somewhat dirty and unholy to a son of Poseidon, it was still sea water.

He would have had come down to take a dip a long time ago if he could make himself to move an inch without crumpling like a sheet of paper. Apparently, he was too big for anybody but Frank, who was passed out at the moment, and Jason, whom he didn't really want to be carried by, to be hauled out here. Annabeth saw no way around it, either. Now if Leo had just agreed to carve a hole through his room so he could slink out of it and into the water himself...

Percy remembered what a heated fit the guy had thrown at his suggestion. He'd been almost afraid that Leo was going to serve another one of his Valdez special 'kebabs'.

Strange fish swam around, colourful and of different sizes, some he never knew even existed. That was the thing about strange lands; if ancient, crazed Gods weren't trying to kill him, he could admire nature's beauty all he wanted. Most of the schools regarded him and said something highly inappropriate, but Percy didn't have the heart to take offence at the moment.

He waded around, the water easily parting for him. He supposed there were some pros to being a demigod, even if the cons were infinitely worse. The split on his lip ached, but soon it would heal. This was better than having cool air blown in his face. Leave the ship; he was far better out here. Now if only he could figure out a way to keep Annabeth from becoming fish food while they travelled, then things would be all the more better. A stupid smile pasted itself onto Percy's face. Hadn't their first official kiss been underwater too?

It was probably ten minutes or so until he heard a little chatter coming from the ship, and curiosity made him break to the surface.

Jason Grace truly looked like a blonde Superman in all his glory, with the dozen carry bags hanging about him, of course. Percy hadn't seen the guy since the attack. So that's what Annabeth had managed to turn him into; an errand boy. A pomegranate fell out of his haul, and Percy politely ignored catching it.

Were the Fates too trying to joke on him or something?

He watched Jason fly towards the Argo II, and touch down on something that made Leo go "Why do all of you go for the mast?" It almost sounded like a grumbling squirrel who'd throw an acorn at the guy. That said, Percy had to stop remembering Disney now.

It was the face of Annabeth that peered at him from the edge that kept him from going underwater again. "Hey there, Seaweed Brain! Feeling any better?" She called.

Percy felt his heart swell with an emotion he couldn't quite figure out. "Nah, I could do with some company," he replied, grinning.

It was after he'd climbed back onto the ship and finally asked for some food on his own that Percy noticed the weird looks the son of Jupiter kept shooting him.

They sat around their usual table, discussing further course of action. Frank, Piper and Leo; the godly mechanic who'd insisted on spending as much time as he could on repairing the Argo II, were absent The seats that were filled provided a variety of reactions to his request to swallow something; Annabeth and Hazel eye-messaged him, 'Are you sure?' Hazel, he thought, looked a little off. Jason just sat there staring at him. He missed the satyr's obnoxious yelling in the background, no doubt, and may be even a bit of Bob, the Titan, but somehow, everyone managed to make it look like a pleasant afternoon.

Percy didn't know which country they were in right now; frankly, he didn't care. Chinese was still a local thing around the restaurants here though. The supplies Jason had brought in contained more take-out food than necessary, but he contented himself with a few harmless looking fruits.

Better something inside than everything outside, he reasoned.

"What I don't understand," Annabeth said around a spoon of fried rice, trying to sound intelligent with a bandaged arm and a full mouth. It was good to see her back to normal again. "Is why they followed Reyna all the way out here and then attacked the Argo II instead of the Athena Parthenos?"

That sounded highly insignificant to Percy, who was more worried if they had in fact gone after the Athena Parthenos too; a question on everyone's mind that Annabeth had conveniently left out.

She wasn't exactly the kind of person to go after things that couldn't be solved.

"I suppose Gaea really doesn't want us reaching Athens, after all," he said with a shrug.

"Or may be they were just a flock of Gryphons flying overhead and mistook the Argo II for a threat. It happens sometimes. The sky is a vast place," Jason countered him with a shrug of his own, pushing a hand towards Hazel. "Pass me the sauce, please?"

Somehow, Percy kept his calm. The guy wasn't trying to be a prick, he decided; Jason was genuinely trying to ease everyone's tension, which generally was a field of expertise for Leo with his silly jokes and outlandish antics. But now that the guy had turned into a tragic hero from some even more tragic love story drama, and with he himself in no condition to be a backbone to anyone, he supposed letting Blondie off the hook just this once was a rather mature thing to do.

"That's possible too," he nodded, surprising all the other three members on the table. "What?"

"Nothing," Annabeth murmured, and then her eyebrows knit. "It's just that it seems a little strange to me. If they were merely a bunch intimidated by the ship, as Jason says, then it makes things even more complicated."

Percy regarded her seriously. "I don't think I can take any more complications."

"What I want to know is why one of them came all the way inside," She answered, shaking her head, tiredly. Her eyes were red around the rims. "Not only that, but how persistent they were. They attack us for protecting themselves, but they keep at it even though they are being taken out one after another? They should have fled in such a situation." She shook her head some more, then her brows furrowed. "It doesn't make sense, not unless - "

"Unless they were looking for something," Jason completed her sentence, and Percy was a little ticked off by how smoothly he had done it. Even he himself couldn't manage reading Annabeth's mind all the time.

"Okay. Now the question is what they were looking for." Percy turned to an unsettled Hazel. "You don't have a Gryphon egg under your bed, do you?"

Hazel stared back at him. "Gryphons don't lay eggs."

"Agates," Annabeth said, then shot him a glare before regarding the quizzical look on Hazel's dark face. "They lay agates, but that's not important. What Percy means to ask is if you have something – I don't know – unusual in your room that a Gryphon might want?" she said.

Hazel shook her head, equally inquisitive. If possible, she looked even queasier, as if her sea-sickness was coming back. "I would like to know the same thing."

Annabeth and Jason exchanged looks. Percy watched them out of the corner of his eyes as he munched on a slice of apple. On any other occasion, he would have been offended, but since it was the matter of thinking, he left it to the braincases of their little team to figure things out. He wasn't the 'sit-in-one-place-and-wrack-your-wits' kind of guy anyway.

It was quiet for a while, and frankly it made Percy a lot nervous.

"So, I've been thinking about the Athena Parthenos," Jason started, looking uneasy as if trying to find the right words to speak further. His fork moved a Manchurian ball around his plate half-heartedly. "It's a powerful symbol of the Greek, and naturally monsters will be attracted to it. It's possible that Reyna's team faced a Gryphon attack as well. Nico is with them too, you know. That guy is as much a monster magnet as I or Percy or Hazel."

Thousands of things that could go wrong and Jason Grace was worried about Nico Di Angelo? That did not set well with Percy.

"Nico is stronger than you think," Hazel commented, a little annoyed.

That seemed to have a strange effect on the guy. Jason's head snapped up, slightly flushed as if someone had come into his room without knocking and caught him in the middle of an underwear-changing ritual. "I'm sorry if it sounded like I was questioning his strength, Hazel. It's just... I'm just wondering if he... I mean if they will be alright."

Percy looked at him for a long time. He got the feeling that the guy was more worried about Camp Jupiter attacking Camp Half Blood than Big Momma attracting bad company, but of course he didn't say it out aloud.

He sighed instead. "I guess I don't need to remind you that Reyna is one powerful Demigod. Don't insult her, man. Then there's Coach Hedge with his nasty Baseball bat too, and we all know how deadly that is! They'll be a super-lethal duo!" he grinned at Jason. Sometimes, being the children of the Big Three tended to drain out confidence from the most capable of Demigods. It was a miracle that Jason, the son of 'incur-my-wrath-and-I-shall-fry-thee' was even confiding in them. It didn't seem like a very Roman-thing. "Besides, Grace, I'm not sure if you have seen it yet or not but as Hazel already said, Nico can be pretty lethal when he wants to be, too."

"I thought we were a pretty lethal bunch of Demigods too, and look where we are now," the son of Jupiter replied, a little glum. Percy wondered if it was something in the air that had made the majority of them antsy.

Hazel nodded again. "I hope Frank will be alright." Percy gave her an encouraging look. Perhaps not anyone, but at least Hazel could take some comfort in him.

"Anything else?" Annabeth prodded.

Hazel seemed like she wanted to say something, but in the end only shrugged. Percy didn't know why, but she almost seemed wiser now, like she could see through things that nobody else could. "I didn't know Gryphons laid agates," she said, eyebrows knit.

"Exactly, right?" Percy exclaimed, eyebrows wriggling. Then they both shared a small laugh. Even Annabeth smiled a little.

Jason watched this exchange with a sober expression. At Percy's annoyed look, the son of Jupiter offered him a pomegranate, to which he couldn't help but take offence. If it wasn't for Annabeth glaring at him to not raise another issue with the human lightning rod, he was almost contemplating slugging the guy across his very pretty face. He wondered what shade of red or blue or purple he'd turn with the impact.

In the end, he politely declined, or as politely as he could manage. "I'm not Nico," he muttered under his breath, and Jason looked indignant. Percy was ignored by him completely for the rest of their lunch.

* * *

Author's Note:

Ugh.

Sayloni thinks the amount of Percabeth in this is going to make her hurl. Not that she has anything against the pairing, it's just that Percy seems so ridiculously stupid when he's so in love. It's a miracle the guy is not a giggling mess with little Hearts shimmering in the background.

Again, ugh.

Not to worry. The forbidden love between Nico and Percy is going to creep into the story soon enough, so that's a relief in Sayloni's mind.

Anyway, regardless of whether she did a good job or not, please read and review. It might not seem much to you, but it does wonders for Sayloni's writing skills, no matter if it's constructive criticism or otherwise. She will always have the advantage of reviewing people's stories in exchange if somebody turns up sounding too mean intentionally...

Nah. Kidding. Sayloni is too good of heart to resort to such petty revenges, not to mention that it's sound extremely childish.

But seriously guys, review.

Thank you.

(^_^)/


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